Ukiah woman and dogs saved from Tuesday night house fire

A woman and her two dogs were pulled from her burning home Tuesday night on Mendocino Drive, the Ukiah Fire Department reported.

According to UFD Training and EMS Chief Kirk Thomsen, the fire began around 10:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at 260 Mendocino Drive.

"A neighbor heard a smoke detector going off downstairs, saw flames coming out of a second-story window and knocked on the door, but no one answered," Thomsen said, explaining that when the UFD's ladder truck arrived, Engineer Larry Goodman went into the house and found the resident in her bedroom with her two dogs.

"I don't know why the dogs weren't barking, but there was a lot of smoke in the house and they may have been groggy," Thomsen said, adding that the fire was burning in a room across the hall from where the woman was sleeping. "We had enough people (on-scene) that the fire was contained to the one room, which was heavily damaged."

Thomsen said the cause of the fire has not been officially determined, "but it may have been electrical -- something that shortcircuited."

The woman and her dogs were taken outside and all were unharmed.

"Engineer Goodman's courageous work and quick thinking probably saved her life," said Public Safety Director Chris Dewey, adding that at the time of the fire, the new staffing arrangement with Ukiah Valley Fire District was in effect that has three people responding from UVFD north's station and three from its south station, while an ambulance and/or ladder truck still responds from the UFD's headquarters.

"Everything went really, really well," Thomsen said. "It was probably one of the smoothest fires I've ever been on."